And the list of people who passed through and didn’t become part of that is far longer. Farm teams are of limited value and not to the point of becoming a consistent drain if and when that time comes.
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Tina Fey could take over ‘Saturday Night Live’ for Lorne Michaels: source
- Thread starter Y2kTheNewOldies
- Start date
As @Don CT says immediately above me, Ebersol was in over his head in the early 80's. The preceding 5 years, and post-Ebersol's handful of years (all the way to this year's season), SNL has been synonymous with Lorne Michaels, who has shown he understands comedy. And talent. Which is why every season has its stars, and its breakout performer(s) who go on to be the star(s) of future seasons. And the stalwarts, like Keenan Thompson or Colin Jost. Everyone else is valuable in their own way, but ultimately a supporting player.
When you look at the last couple of seasons, and the losses of Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Beck Bennett, Ady Bryant, and their replacements, like Bowen Yang, Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodem, etc., you see the genius of Lorne Michaels.
Tina Fey or who ever else ends up taking the reins will need those kind of chops, plus Lorne's business acumen and ability to deal with "network weasels" (as Dave Letterman used to call the brass). She might have them from her previous projects. But no one's ever truly going to be another Lorne.
Lorne Michaels is talented. That does not mean other people are not equally talented. And the next person can continue to take the show in evolving directions.
Lorne has the power to keep the execs at bay.
SNL launched in 1975. Lorne, except for the handful of Ebersol years in the early 80's, has been Lorne's baby. What major network show have you been running continuously for the last, oh, 40 years?
In absolutely every case, Lorne deserves the benefit of the doubt. Even if someone else could take the show in "evolving directions", as they will surely have to do in this evolving industry.
I think at this point the likely candidates are Tina and Seth. The incentive for Seth is that the audience (even before the strike) for late night (the timeslot, not the show) has been in decline for years and the networks are far from committed to it for the long haul (see: Corden, James).
Both of whom use Broadway Video as their co-producers. Seth Myers has his own production company: Sethmaker Shoemeyers Productions. But he lists Broadway Video as a co-production company with Universal Studios, and Lorne Michaels as a coproducer. If you go back to the original deal naming Seth as a replacement in the time slot, Lorne Michaels was given the slot, and he chose Seth as the host. So both Seth & Tina have worked with Lorne on their own projects. The question is if Seth wants to leave his own show to take on SNL. In terms of age, Seth is 49 and Tina is 53.
So my view is that it's likely that Broadway Video remains the production company of SNL, and all that changes is the name of Lorne Michaels as regular Executive Producer. As I said earlier, he might become emeritus EP or consulting EP.
I agree with everything that you said, but as I noted, late night numbers (including 11:35 shows) are down and 12:35 is worse.
CBS decided not to replace Corden with another talk show. And the longer the strike goes on, the more viewing habits can be altered. The final week of new shows before the strike, Seth averaged fewer than 700,000 viewers.
It's possible that by the time we get to a succession (I've heard Lorne would like to be around for the 50th anniversary, so that's two years), Seth wouldn't have a show, or at least a show on NBC (there are rumors of a move to Peacock), which would make it a much easier choice for Seth.
In 2021, NBC extended Seth's contract to 2025, so it would be close;
NBC Extends Seth Meyers’ ‘Late Night’ Deal Though 2025
Lots of unexpected things can happen in the wee hours of the morning. But NBC is keeping at least one element constant. The network recently renewed its contract with Seth Meyers to host “Lat…
variety.com
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Again, he’s talented. No one disputed that. Giving someone their due doesn’t mean saying other people cannot achieve great success. He’s not a deity. Sometimes it’s just time for people to move on.
Not in any reality in the multiverse.
Probably not. They haven't worked together for 14 years. Lorne didn't have control of The Tonight Show when Conan moved off Late Night. There's an unbroken relationship with Tina and Seth, while Conan did three years on the writing staff of SNL and then quit. He was never head writer, as both Tina and Seth were.
You DO understand that nobody's saying he shouldn't move on, right? The thread is about Lorne's impending retirement and the likely successors.
Lorne hand picked Conan for late night.
That was 30 years ago. Lorne was not involved in subsequent Conan shows. Whereas he's currently involved in the Myers show.
Lorne could have put Conan right back into the Tonight Show as soon as Broadway Video took it over in 2014 instead of putting Fallon in there---but he didn't.
Not saying Lorne doesn't respect Conan's talent---clearly he does, but---3 years as a staff writer on SNL vs. head writer posts and far longer tenures for Tina and Seth and 14 years without working together versus essentially unbroken production relationships with Tina and Seth.
Then there's age. Conan's 11 years older than Seth, seven older than Tina. It means another change at the top quicker. And Conan has made it pretty clear---he likes living in California and has things he wants to do that the grind of SNL would make impossible.
I can’t see Seth or Tina having the stomach to deal with the network brass when something goes south. They want to focus on the comedy not the other stuff.
That's a fascinating opinion. You think Tina didn't have to do that with 30 Rock, or Mr. Mayor or Girls 5Eva? You think Seth doesn't deal with that with Late Night?
And while we're at it, you think Conan would want to? After his experience with NBC brass?
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